An array of 13 biochemically well defined molecular forms of bovine, human and newly cloned rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) AChEs (acetylcholinesterases) differing in glycosylation and subunit assembly status were subjected to comparative pharmacokinetic studies in mice and rhesus macaques. The circulatory lifetimes of recombinant bovine, macaque and human AChEs in mice were governed by previously determined hierarchical rules; the longest circulatory residence time was obtained when AChE was fully sialylated and tetramerized [Kronman, Chitlaru, Elhanany, Velan and Shafferman (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275, 29488-29502; Chitlaru, Kronman, Velan and Shafferman (2001) Biochem. J. 354, 613-625]. In rhesus macaques, bovine molecular forms still obeyed the same hierarchical rules, whereas primate AChEs showed significant deviation from this behaviour. Residence times of human and rhesus AChEs were effectively extended by extensive sialylation, but subunit tetramerization and N-glycan addition had a marginal effect on their circulatory longevity in macaques. It appears that the major factor responsible for the differential pharmacokinetics of bovine and primate AChEs in macaques is related to differences in primary structure, suggesting the existence of a specific mechanism for the circulatory clearance of primate AChEs in rhesus macaques. The 35 amino acids that differ between bovine and primate AChEs are clustered within three defined domains, all located at the enzyme surface, and may therefore mediate the facilitated removal of primate cholinesterases specifically from the circulation of monkeys. These surface domains can be effectively masked by poly(ethylene glycol) appendage, resulting in the generation of chemically modified human and macaque AChEs that reside in the circulation for extraordinarily long periods of time (mean residence time of 10000 min). This extended residence time is similar to that displayed by native macaque butyrylcholinesterase (9950 min), which is the prevalent cholinesterase form in the circulation of adult macaques.